Executive Director, Americas Partnerships & Philanthropy Wild Impact

Wild Impact Foundation Trust ("Wild Impact") Wild Impact Foundation Trust ("Wild Impact") is a global nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving critical biodiversity landscapes while advancing sustainable development within the communities that steward them. With more than three decades of impact across Africa in its priority conservation regions, Wild Impact integrates conservation excellence with community led solutions in education, healthcare, livelihoods, climate resilience and environmental protection.

Formerly known as Africa Foundation, the organization was founded in 1992 alongside the creation of the &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in South Africa. Its origins are rooted in a pioneering partnership model in which conservation success was tied directly to community well being and economic participation. The founders of &Beyond recognized that long term conservation required meaningful benefits to flow to surrounding communities, leading to the formation of a separate nonprofit entity designed to empower those living adjacent to protected landscapes.

The 30+ year co shareholders of &Beyond are the Enthoven and Getty families. The two families have shared a long term financial and impact vision which is delivered by &Beyond and Wild Impact working in lockstep together. The two families, as well as being the shareholders of &Beyond, have been and remain key philanthropic supporters of Wild Impact.

Through its longstanding impact partnership with &Beyond, Wild Impact has expanded from its South African origins into a global organization supporting conservation and sustainable community development impact in wild landscapes and seascapes in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, Bhutan and Chile. Over the next 3 years this geographic scope will be expanded to include wild areas in Rwanda, Ecuador and Peru.

Wild Impact achieves this by leveraging deep field infrastructure, trusted community relationships, and strong operational capacity. Its Theory of Change is anchored in four core pillars: Conserving Ecosystems, Future Foundations (education & health), Tomorrow's Leaders, and Thriving Communities, reflecting a holistic, systems based approach to long term conservation and community resilience. The organization's model is anchored by a "listen, learn and co create" methodology aimed at establishing long term community and conservation partnerships.

Through its partnership with &Beyond, Wild Impact benefits from on the ground infrastructure support, community and stakeholder relationships, and operational support. This unique partnership positions the organization not only to sustain its current impact, but to significantly expand its reach and ambition over the coming years.

Wild Impact has a team of 160 full time staff and over 1,000 interns. Annual Restricted Project funding and Unrestricted Overhead funding amounts to a total of approximately $10-12 million per annum over the period . Almost all of the funding and staffing is currently focused on our African footprint, with South Africa, at 75% of the total, being the largest single country element of both donor funding and project deployment.

As Wild Impact accelerates its global reach, now extending into Africa, South Asia and South America, it is prioritizing significant expansion of its philanthropic partnerships, with a particular focus on the Americas, where the organization seeks to deepen donor engagement, institutional partnerships and long term funding relationships to support its growing international impact.

The Opportunity Position: Executive Director, Americas Partnerships and Philanthropy

Location: U.S. based, with structured travel to South Africa and globally

Reporting Relationship: Chief Executive Officer

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Wild Impact is at a compelling inflection point in its evolution. With strong governance, growing organizational maturity, and clear strategic priorities, Wild Impact is now focused on scaling both its programs and its philanthropic resources to meet increasing global demand for conservation driven development solutions.

To support this next phase of growth, Wild Impact is creating a senior executive role dedicated to building and accelerating its Americas based partnerships and philanthropy function. The Executive Director, Americas Partnerships & Philanthropy will play a central role in transforming Wild Impact's fundraising engine, expanding its presence within North & South American philanthropic markets, securing transformational multi year investments and cultivating strategic partnerships that advance both revenue growth and long term impact.

Purpose of the Position The Executive Director, Americas Partnerships & Philanthropy is responsible for building and leading Wild Impact's philanthropic partnerships engine to support the organization's long term growth, financial sustainability, and global impact ambitions.

Serving as the organization's primary architect and driver of major revenue generation across North & South America, the executive will translate Wild Impact's proven, community anchored model, rooted in more than three decades of partnership with &Beyond and active across 13 landscapes and 70+ communities, into compelling, values aligned philanthropic partnerships.

The leader will operate as both strategist and hands on builder, designing and executing partnership strategies that diversify and expand funding across institutional donors, corporations, family foundations and high net worth individuals.

Beyond securing funding, the executive will play a critical role in elevating Wild Impact's visibility, credibility, and influence within philanthropic, conservation, and business communities.

Key Responsibilities Strategic Partnership Development & Revenue Generation

• Identify, cultivate, negotiate, and close major philanthropic partnerships and multi year funding agreements in alignment with Wild Impact's global conservation and community development priorities.
• Personally manage and grow a portfolio of North & South American based high priority donors and prospects across all relevant donor categories: government agencies, NGOs, other institutions, corporates, foundations, endowments, high net worth individuals and family offices.
• Build and maintain a robust, forward looking funding pipeline that reflects organizational growth goals and supports long term financial resilience.
• Translate Wild Impact's proven model, including its deep community integration and long standing partnership with &Beyond, into compelling, fundable partnership opportunities rooted in measurable impact.
• Deliver against annual and medium term revenue targets, driving consistent year over year growth in closed commitments.
• Develop innovative co investment and blended finance aligned partnership models that appeal to diverse donor segments seeking high impact, globally scalable outcomes.

Fundraising Strategy & Growth Planning

• Lead the development of partnership strategies aligned with Wild Impact's Theory of Change and long term revenue objectives.
• Drive diversification of revenue across foundations, corporations, bilateral partners and private philanthropy to ensure a resilient, multi source funding model.
• Provide strategic analysis and recommendations on revenue mix, market positioning, donor segmentation, and multi year growth planning.
• Establish early wins while building toward multi million dollar annual fundraising performance in alignment with the organization's global expansion into Africa, Asia, and South America.
• Partner with internal teams to ensure impact data, program metrics and field insights are effectively leveraged to strengthen donor confidence and partnership conversion.

Team Leadership, Mentorship & Capacity Building

• Mentor and support fundraising and partnership colleagues to strengthen partnership strategy, deal quality and execution confidence.
• Lead structured deal reviews, pipeline strategy sessions and partnership planning processes that elevate organizational rigor and alignment.
• Support proposal strategy, negotiation planning and closure of complex funding structures through live deal engagement.
• Contribute to building a high performing, global partnerships function that reflects Wild Impact's values, collaborative culture and long term ambition.
• Model a culture of accountability, transparency and excellence in fundraising practice.

Executive, Board & External Engagement

• Serve as a senior ambassador for Wild Impact with donors, partners, global stakeholders and philanthropic networks.
• Partner closely with the Wild Impact CEO and executive leadership on high value opportunities, donor strategy and global revenue planning.
• Engage and support board members in activating their networks and advancing philanthropic efforts as appropriate.
• Represent Wild Impact at key donor meetings, industry convenings, philanthropic forums and international events across Africa, Europe, the Americas and other priority geographies.
• Collaborate with &Beyond's executive and field stakeholders to align messaging, identify partnership opportunities and strengthen shared impact strategies.

Operational Excellence & Partnership Stewardship

• Ensure exceptional stewardship of all donors through strategic communication, impact reporting and long term relationship management.
• Partner with program, finance and field teams to ensure proposals and reports are accurate . click apply for full job details